Inspired by my endeavours to create a colour-coded map of sewer vents/ stink pipes by manufacturer, and by my county council’s endeavour to undertake a survey of holy wells, I started adding name:etymology:wikidata first to the holy wells in Co. Kilkenny, but then to the whole of Ireland.

I had produced a video about mapping holy wells in March 2021, but I think I need to make an updated one, because I was oblivious of the name:etymology group, and instead, had suggested people use subject:wikidata. Silly me. But at least, I only had to retag some of them rather than looking up every name.

Some saints or holy people like St. Patrick and “Our” Lady where easily identified, of course, but there were some very obscure saints there for which I had to create wikidata entries. For some, I just could not figure out which saint the holy wells were named after. I also had to skip St. Brigid and St. Kieran, because either name relates to more than one saint.

The first night I did this, I gave every saint a colour or colour combination, but I had to give up on that, because it is called the land of 1,000 saints after all. Here’s a list of saints IN Ireland on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_saints_of_Ireland. There are holy wells named after Biblical saints and early, non-Irish saints as well.

Some holy wells are also not named after a saint, but after the cure they supposedly give, Tobernasuil would be healing eyes, for example. That’s how far my Irish goes… But I’ve asked someone for help. But I added the wikidata identifier for “eye” in that case.

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Rock glaciers – a mixture of ice and gravel that very slowly flows down a slope – are not mapped much. So it seems. Let us have a look. They are said to cover 167.2 out of 12.640 km² in the province where I live, so no small feat.

There is an inventory of 5769 polygons for them in mountainous Austria available for free online. Here to the description - https://doi.org/10.17738/ajes.2020.0001 - Here to the data - https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.921629

As usual, data is BIG. Let us trim it down a bit first: We only want rock glaciers in the narrow sense, of those only the so-called intact ones, and that not so overnoded.

ogr2ogr -simplify 0.01 -s_srs RGs_all_LambertProj.prj -t_srs EPSG:4326 Blockgletscher.geojson RGs_all_LambertProj.shp -where "LfState='INT' and LfType='rg'"

Resulting Blockgletscher.geojson loads quickly into JOSM. We can now pan and zoom the data smoothly over OSM-Carto background. This goes to show that rock glaciers are in fact mapped! Yet not as one might infer from the name, as natural=glacier, but natural=scree instead, at least, where there is something mapped at all and not just blank space.

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• buildings_tools
• ColorPlugin
• imagery_offset_db
• Mapullary
• PicLayer
• reverter ???
• tageditor
• turnlanes-tagging
• turnrestrictions
• utilsplugin2

.

For many years I’ve used Garmin devices for both for navigation and for collecting data for OSM. As well as lots of premade maps in different styles it’s actually pretty easy to tinker with the map style yourself, although the OSM wiki makes it seem much more complicated than it actually is. It’s also pretty easy to see what OSM keys map to what values - there’s a file for points, one for lines and one for polygons that shows what OSM key and value corresponds to what Garmin feature.

I also maintain a web map style that tries to be much more inclusive than other web maps in terms of what it shows (have a look around the map legend for that), and thought that it’d be great to do the same for Garmin maps too. The web map style uses a lua script to preprocess OSM data before the CartoCSS code deals with it, which makes the latter much, much simpler. It turns out that exactly the same approach works when creating Garmin maps too, as described on this page.

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Why are you mapping sidewalks as separate paths, rather than as tags on roadways?

While sidewalks as tags are adequate for many applications, they lack the ability to add detail to crossings and curbs. This information is vital for people who use visual and/or mobility aids. There is a project called OpenSidewalks which aims to bring equity to pedestrian data and provide routing tools for people whom have more specific mobility needs than what traditional routing tools can accommodate. Here is an excerpt from their mission:

Pedestrian pathways are critical infrastructure in urban environments that help people engage in their professional, community, and daily lives. To promote equitable urban growth, transit-oriented development, and resilient communities, we must give strategic, pedestrian-centric consideration to our sidewalks and pedestrian pathways, which are the dynamic connective tissue of our physical environments. Individuals experience the built environment in innumerable ways depending upon many factors, including their mobility. Therefore, their optimal path through the built environment is not necessarily the shortest or most direct route (despite the inherent Google Maps bias). Rather, their travel experience is influenced by static physical features, e.g., the availability of curb ramps and auditory signaling at crosswalks, as well as transient conditions (like precipitation). Automated routing applications can also make great use of this kind of data. For example, provided with such information, individuals prone to slipping on wet terrain could circumvent cobblestone sidewalk surfaces on rainy days, and individuals who require curb ramps can selectively identify routes that can accommodate their needs.

Additionally, much of Montréal already had sidewalks mapped as separate ways, and I am just expanding that coverage.

Guidelines

Sidewalks

Sidewalks should be:

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This text is a continuation of my previous diary and do what the title says. The draft already existed 6 months ago, but just today I’m publishing this diary. Anyway, there’s comment I head about this on the @Wikimaps telegram

“You seem to be doing what we were doing 10+ years ago before Wikidata existed” – Maarten Dammers opinion on what this approach doing

Well, he’s right… but there’s a reason for that. This diary have 4 parts, the examples are on 3.

1. Preface

This extension could be perceived as one approach to make general proposed data extraction from OpenStreetMap Wiki, which , in a ABox vs TBox dicotomy, is the closest of a TBox for OpenStreetMap (*).

*: if we ignore id-tagging-schema and, obviously, other custom strategies to explain the meaning of OpenStreetMap data, which could include cartocss used to explain how to render as image. I do have a rudimentary draft of try to make sense of all of her encodings here, but not ready for today.

1.1 Wikibase is not consensus even between what would be ontologists on OpenStreetMap

Tip: for those wanting to view/review some past discussions, check https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/User:Minh_Nguyen/Wikidata_discussions#Wikidata_link_in_wiki_infoboxes. The same page from Minh Nguyen has other links, such as discussions to remove the entire Wikibase extension from OSM.wiki at https://github.com/openstreetmap/operations/issues/764.

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🗺️🦀 Hello to the OpenStreetMap community,

I am happy to announce my latest project, osm-budynki-orto-import — a fully autonomous building import tool currently in operation in Poland. This is my next step towards making OpenStreetMap (OSM) a more dynamic and efficient platform.

This tool is designed with the objective of making building import process simpler and more accurate. The system utilizes official building data in conjunction with ortophoto imagery to validate the accuracy of the data before importing it.

At the heart of this tool lies an advanced computer vision model, with a precision as high as 99.7%. This accuracy is, in my opinion, superior to the capabilities of most average mappers, providing a faster and more reliable way of mapping structures.

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Last fall I posted about “Living Streets of OpenStreetMap US”. In Las Vegas, I encountered two pedestrian streets (tagged with highway=pedestrian), and they’re in an outdoor mall.

The next aisle over, by the Panera, is a walkable area tagged with benches but doesn’t have highway=pedestrian. I mapped a bike rack.
There’s also a splash pad on the map, which isn’t in any of the standard OSM renderers.

While visiting Moab, I corrected the new Utah Raptor state park to “Utahraptor”, and added two sculptures downtown (“Get Your Mind Rolling” was memorable).

I added some local businesses, parking access roads, residential access roads in a new development, etc. There are a good number of bike racks in national parks which ought to be mapped.

Shortly after I posted about bikes in northern Wisconsin / Lake Superior area, I found BicycleBenefits.org through the local co-op. Get discounts!

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deleted

We have organized mapathons in Prague. We planned them, met on site, trained new mappers, mapped something and went to the pub. There we discussed and planned and exchanged our ideas. We called ourselves the core team. (I am only writing in the past tense because I am not there anymore; there is actually still a core team organizing mapathons in Prague.)

I was involved in Missing Maps CZ & SK from 2016 to 2020. I was involved in organizing mapathons. During that time I wrote and still maintain the mapathoner plugin. I like free software and I know that it is different from open source. I lobbed for openness. In 2020, I published Divide and map. Now. – the damn project and still maintain it. In 2022 I wrote simple hot intersecting areas and have not updated it since.

I am not sure if it’s time for this diary, but I want to write down my opinion about the core team and the community, because we have been talking about the community and the core team all along. And in my opinion, these two terms are often misunderstood.

DISCLAIMER: These are my own views. Please read this diary accordingly. I am in no way affiliated with OSMF, Missing Maps, HOT, MSF or the Red Cross.

Have you heard of WHAT, WHY, HOW and WHO questions? This is one of my favorite ways to discuss things.

Missing Maps’ WHAT and WHY are clear from their website. Let me put it another way: map the (vulnerable people of the) world because it’s a good thing. WHO is the community, the mappers. HOW is decided by the core team.

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I had added the odd sewer pipe using man_made=sewage_vent, because I had spotted some and was curious what they were. But someone in the Irish community had pointed out the under-documentation of man_made tags, so I did a bit of work, looked it up on wikidata and decided to go for man_made=sewer_vent instead. (I thought that man_made=sewer_ventilation_pipe was a bit long.) I retagged the existing ones which weren’t many anyway and added a few more from Wikimedia, especially in England, where many were covered by geograph.co.uk and one particular user (Rodhullandemu) especially. By Phil Nash from Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Some in Ireland and in England are listed monuments, believe it or not.

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Sometimes you want to say thank you to corporate mappers. Most other times though…

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I want to improve/update the lane information on the US highways where I traveled (maybe I’ll come back there one day and use OSM for navigation). The first one is US 6 in Utah, a part of the route between Salt Lake City and Moab, where great Arches and Canyonlands National Parks are. Bing aerial imagery is pretty good and recent in the US, so it’s pleasant to use. It’ll be an ongoing project in between other mapping.

What I’m mapping:

• number of lanes, turn lanes, change lanes (near intersections), placement;
• removing note:lanes where it’s now redundant;
• turn restrictions including implicit ones;
• connectivity relations inferred from road markings;
• occasionally aligning the road to the Bing aerial photos.

I discovered an unrecorded shipwreck recently on Bing imagery, but because I don’t have the energy to put it all into words again, I’ll just copy and paste the press release I sent out today. It’ll be another chance to get the word out about OpenStreetMap.

I also made a video about it, but it’s a but all over the place, because I recorded, as the story developed, so it might be jumping around a bit. Sorry.

https://youtu.be/0gKV-SA1iNE

wikidata entry

Press release

Craft mapper discovers shipwreck after almost 100 years

Volunteer OpenStreetMap contributor Anne-Karoline Distel discovered a shipwreck on July 9th 2023 in the River Barrow. It was identified as the Tresness, a three-mast schooner which sank on August 21st 1929 on its way from New Ross to St. Mullins.

Anne had been mapping along the River Barrow using newly released Bing satellite imagery, when she discovered the wreck which is about 25m long and clearly visible on the imagery, possibly because the photographs were taken at low tide. After consulting with underwater archaeologist Jimmy Lenehan, she reported the discovery to Karl Brady at the Underwater Archaeology Department of the National Monument Service. Karl was able to identify the ship; it had made the news in the Irish Independent, the Northern Whig and Belfast Post and many other newspapers at the time.

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THE BEGINNING: Let’s do a reunion in Kosovo! That was my first reaction when I was first introduced to the idea of FOSS4G conference last year (when I was still in New Zealand) by our host Gresa Neziri, one of the main persons at the event, and a dear friend. Luka and Slavica, my two other Balkan friends were also joining. Exciting! Although, I have moved away from spatial data analysis for my research, the opportunity to reconnect with old friends from ITC, Netherlands and potentially connect my research on disasters and ethics with spatial planning was an opportunity I did not want to miss.

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Recording 100tracks by 10eps b4 August 15,,by da illest#nijatrapwahala #ika #1tahdaillest #kastleshit #ceekindatinx

A virtual discussion on the subject “The Sustainability of OpenStreetMap Communities” held on July 4th, 2023 was the sixth of the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT) Community Working Group Peer-to-Peer Learning Series aimed at supporting the new OSM chapters in Saint Lucia and Dominica. What follows are some key takeaways from that discussion.

The session got underway with an icebreaker of sorts where participants were asked to give one word that could be used to describe a sustainable OpenStreetMap community. The question garnered 19 responses, including: inclusive, resilient, accessible, accountable, self-sustained, and active.

What are the potential challenges or barriers to sustaining an OSM community?

The question received about 21 responses. Lack of resources was a commonly repeated theme, with the key resource being financial.

Other challenges highlighted include a lack of motivation and the inability to replace leaving members. It was noted that language differences can also be a factor.

Additionally, there were personal testimonies of challenges, for example, Covid 19 stopped in-person meetings for OSM Kenya forcing online meetings, which hindered some of the members.

What funding models or strategies can be implemented to ensure the long-term sustainability of an OSM Community?

This question was particularly relevant coming off of identifying the lack of financial resources as a prevalent challenge to the sustainability of an OSM community. Again 21 responses were generated.

Membership fees were raised as an avenue for fundraising, but some felt that it might be counterintuitive as it may scare away would-be members.

A key source of possible funding is grants from the OSM foundation, although it was more typical for newly forming communities.

The groups’ earning potential was also discussed, for instance maybe the community should be allowed to take up a funded project or use the varied skill sets within the group for earning finances.

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I’ve added a new page to the switch2osm guide: “Manually building a tile server (Debian 12)”.

Mostly it’s minor changes only from Debian 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 - new versions of software, that sort of thing. Where new manual steps have to be carried out, the guide describes them. Debian 12 itself does have some differences - “syslog” is no longer created by default, so debugging changes slightly.

I’ve also updated a couple of other pages such as the replication ones to reflect that Debian 12 is now a supported operating system.

Separately to that, I’ve moved map.atownsend.org.uk (which uses a related may style) from an Ubuntu 22.04 server to a Debian 12 one. There was nothing wrong with the old one, but the hosting provider I use was offering higher spec ARM servers for essentially the same price as the old AMD one I was using, so it made sense to move.

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